As everyone is well aware by now, the US Supreme Court recently decided that same-sex marriage is now legal in all fifty states.

#LoveWins! say the gay-agenda-ists.

But having grown up in a Christian family, as a lifelong God-fearing dude, this is terribly upsetting news. Not because same-sex couples will finally have equal rights and protections under the law, or because this country is going to Hell in a hand basket; but because now I have to argue with so many of my Christian friends and family, brothers and sisters, about why their outrage is so unreasonable and misplaced.

Who has time for that??

Hopefully all such people will save me a lot of time and emotional energy by just reading what I have to say here and really thinking about it real hard before sending me any further unsolicited text messages and emails.

Let's start with the easy, not-so-controversial stuff.

I know that you're upset that the country is moving away from the Bible and God's perfect plan for marriage (let's set aside that plenty of Christians have differing interpretations of the Bible and what it has to say about marriage and homosexuality). And I know that you're upset about the Supreme Court's tacit approval of such an abomination (to use the Biblical term) as same-sex marriage.

But for better or worse, the founding legal document of the USA, and that which the Supreme Court justices are charged with interpreting, is not the Bible but rather the US Constitution. When the Supreme Court justices are debating a matter, the question on their minds is not "what does God or the Bible have to say about this matter?"; they are asking instead "what does the Constitution have to say...?"

"But the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian principles! We are -- er, were -- a Christian nation!" you might counter.

I'm sorry, but no.

The USofA (aka 'Murka) was founded on the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans; (yet) US citizens have protested virtually every wave of immigrants ever since (framing themselves as natives instead! ha!); our economic and military hegemony persists only by the exploitation of the poor (both here and abroad), of land, of resources; and the government is pretty much always chomping at the bit of another war!

How can you possibly call this a Christian nation? I mean, how do you reconcile its behavior over the centuries with... well, everything that Jesus said?

Blessed are the peacemakers? Love your enemies? Ha! The ways of this nation are and always have been directly contrary to the ways of Jesus.

He said "You cannot serve both God and money."

So where was your outrage when the Supreme Court decided in the Citizens United case that Corporations are people with a right to throw their financial weight around our supposedly democratic elections? Now our elected officials serve mammon, in the form of lobbyists and corporate interests; they couldn't serve God even if they wanted to! (With or without this particular decision, I would challenge the very idea of a "Christian nation," arguing that it is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, and that such a thing could never possibly exist. But alas, it's a tangent I don't have much time for. I'm happy to recommend a bibliography though!)

And where was your outrage, your indignant text message, when the murders of black men and women, at the hands of police officers, dominated the nation's headlines?

Do you really think that God is more upset about same-sex couples being granted equal rights and protections under the law of this country, than s/he is about the murders of countless black people by police? Or this country's legacy of racism and violence against black communities, most recently exemplified in the senseless murder of nine black Christians in Charleston, SC?

As you might imagine, I follow a lot of progressive "pinko" types on twitter and facebook. Many of them are black or gay or feminist. And many of them must actually be reading their Bibles, because I keep seeing them ask these questions:

Why aren't there more Christians on the streets, chanting "Black Lives Matter"?

And on and on. Unfortunately, I haven't had good answers for my peers seeking solidarity from the once-radical movement known as Christianity. I've only been able to express my own solidarity as a lonesome follower of Christ.

But in the wake of the latest Supreme Court decision, I can take heart! Now I know that Christians can have a strong, powerful, influential place in society (not to mention my email inbox) -- if only they drop the self-righteous bologna motivating them now and instead actually begin to care about the sorts of things that Jesus cared about.

Gio, all your questions have different answers, but referring to the Court Decision "compassion without conviction is as dangerous as conviction without compassion". As a christian and referring to The Book, sin is sin and you have to call it what it is. You have to respond to this decision with love and be convinced of what you believe. Genesis 2:21, Ephesian 5:25 Love.